you received a Maintenance Loan from Student Finance Wales in academic year 2012/13 or after.

Am I eligible for partial cancellation of Maintenance Loan?

If you’ve taken out a Maintenance Loan infrom Student Finance Wales since academic year 2012/13 you could have up to £1,500 cancelled from your loan balance by the Welsh Government.

The cancellation will be applied to your student loan balance by SLC when you either enter repayment or make a voluntary repayment back to your account.

You won’t be able to qualify for the cancellation if you have any outstanding charges, costs, expenses or penalties in relation to your loan or if you are in breach of your loan agreement.

If you have a loan balance for more than one academic year, the cancellation will only ever be applied to the first loan which you took. So if you have a loan in academic year 2016/17 and academic year 2017/18 the cancellation will be applied to the academic year 2016/17 loan balance.

How much will be cancelled?

After you have made the first repayment to your student loan we’ll automatically cancel up to £1,500 of your current loan balance. If your balance is lower than £1,500, then the cancellation will only be applied to your current balance. It will not be applied to any future Maintenance Loan payments you may be due to receive (even where the full £1,500 hasn’t been applied).

Here are examples that show how much of your Maintenance Loan will be cancelled if we receive a repayment while you’re studying and after you’ve completed your course.

Making a repayment while studying

If you’re currently receiving Maintenance Loan (ML) payments and make a repayment to your loan, then the amount of partial cancellation applied may be different based on:

How do I make a payment?

You can make a repayment of any amount in order to receive partial cancellation of the Maintenance Loan, but there is a minimum amount that we can accept if you want to make a repayment online.

The minimum card repayment we can accept online is £5.

The minimum amount a Direct Debit can be set up for is £5 per month.

Will I receive a receipt for my repayment?

Yes - when you make your payment you can request a receipt.

When will my partial cancellation be deducted from my balance?

If you are eligible for a partial cancellation, once you have made your first repayment we will then calculate how much will be deducted from your balance. The deduction and balance adjustment will happen shortly after you have made your repayment and normally be shown on your next annual statement.

Is there an expiry date for the Partial cancellation policy?

No - there is no expiry date. As long as you took out a Maintenance Loan in academic year 2012/13 or after and are eligible for the partial cancellation policy your deduction will be applied when you make your first repayment. If your income remains below the repayment threshold for several years, you will still be eligible for a partial cancellation if or when you enter repayment in the future.

This means that if you are currently unable to make a repayment you will not miss out as we will apply your partial cancellation once you have made your first repayment, either through your salary, or, if you are self employed, through your Self Assessment repayment.

Can I receive the partial cancellation more than once?

No. You should note that you are only entitled to receive the partial cancellation once.

Why has the partial cancellation policy been introduced?

In a statement to Plenary on the 18 March 2009, the then Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills announced the Welsh Assembly Government response to the report on phase one of the Review of Higher Education in Wales submitted on 1 October 2008. Its proposals to remodel the student finance system were based on the 'One Wales’ commitments to provide extra assistance with student debt and to provide investment in the higher education sector.

In line with these proposals The Cancellation of Student Loans for Living Costs Liability (Wales) Regulations 2012 make provision for students who receive a Maintenance loan from Student Finance Wales for academic year 2012/13 or after, to have a partial cancellation of up to £1,500 applied to their loan balance once they start to make their repayments.